1833
Oberlin College in Ohio becomes the first coed institution of higher learning in the United States, with fifteen women and twenty-nine men enrolled.
1896
Dr. Herman Hollerith incorporates the Tabulating Machine Company, the predecessor of the later International Business Machines (IBM), to manufacture and sell the sorting machine he had invented. The corporation’s main offices are in Georgetown, Washington.
1904
The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at California’s Lick Observatory.
1922
The first successful Technicolor film, The Toll of the Sea, was released to theaters.
1937
The Dandy, the world’s longest-running comic, is first published. While the Dandy is in no way, shape, or form geeky, its unprecedented popularity greatly contributed to proliferation of comic strips in the early half of the century.
1947
The point-contact transistor is invented by researchers John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain working under physicist William Bradford Shockley at Bell Laboratories. Transistors would go on to replace vacuum tubes and mark the beginning of the “second-generation” of computers. They were cheaper to construct, faster in their operation, and more energy efficient. The first computer to feature transistors would be MIT’s TX-0 in 1956.
1968
The Control Data Corporation (CDC) announces the CDC 7600 Supercomputer. Many will later consider it the first true supercomputer. The system is capable of performing calculations at a speed of thrity-six megaflops, and it is equiped with a small-core memory of 65,536 60-bit words and a a clock speed of twenty-seven nanoseconds. It contains one hundred twenty miles of hand wired connections and is freon cooled. Both the Model 7600 and its predecessor, the model 6600, were designed by Seymour Cray. Both systems, the 6600 and 7600 use the same software environment, making it a simple matter to upgrade to the 7600. Scientific and government institutions will primarily use the machine to execute large mathematical programs written in FORTRAN, using the FORTRAN 70 compiler the system supports. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be one of the more notable organizations to use the machine. There, it will be used design nuclear weapons. Price: US$5 million
1973
The NASA spacecraft Pioneer 10 becomes the first probe to reach Jupiter, and the first probe to perform a fly-by of an outer planet. It was launched on March 3, 1972, and in 1983, it will become the first probe to leave the solar system. The spacecraft is equipped with an Intel 4004 microchip. In another twenty years and five billion miles from Earth, the probe and microchip will still be functioning. Visit the official NASA profile of the spacecraft.
1976
Pertec Computer, a manufacturer of computer peripherals, signs a letter stating its intent to acquire Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) for US$6 million in stock.
1981
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) announces that the Data Processing Division (DPD) will be absorbed into the new IBM National Accounts Division (NAD) and IBM National Marketing Division, which will become part of the new Information Systems Group, effective January 1982. The National Account Division’s headquarters are established in DPD office building in White Plains, New York. The DPD has been responsible for the release of a number of ground-breaking computer systems, such systems as the IBM 650 and the IBM 7090.
1987
The 5th annual World of Commodore show is held, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, over four days.
1994
Sega releases Sega 32X, also known as Sega CD in North America, an add-on for the Sega Mega Drive video game console.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) introduces the PlayStation video game console in Japan. The system features a 33 MHz 32-bit MIPS R3000A processor, a geometry coprocessor, 2MB RAM, 1MB VRAM, and a graphics resolution is 640×480 in 24-bit color. The system plays games stored on compact discs. It isn’t the first game system to do so, but it is the first commercially successful system to do so, thus heralding the end of the era of cartridge game system. Sony spent US$500 million developing the system, and its release comes just one week after the launch of the competing Sega Saturn. The system is the result of a breakdown of a business partnership between Sony and Nintendo to create a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Before the partnership came to fruition, Nintendo aborted development and partnered with Philips. However, Sony ran with the development and the PlayStation, the first video game system to sell over 100 million consoles, was the result. Within thirty days of the system’s release, Sony will sell more than three hundred thousand units. Within six months, over one million units will be sold. Visit the system’s official website. Code-name: Play Station X Price: ¥39,800 (US$399)
1996
Konami releases the Justifier light gun as a new licensed peripheral for the PlayStation video game console. The device is similar in shape to the Colt Python. Its realistic shape and the realistic violence of the games for which it can be used will cause controversy in the US media and government.
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) notes an all time US industry high average of six-to-one software to hardware sales ratio in its PlayStation sales. Over two hundred PlayStation titles are currently available.
1998
Cisco Systems Inc. announces an agreement to acquire PipeLinks Inc. for around US$126 million in stock.
The website of the Corvette Club of Delaware Valley is hacked by “CHC”. Visit an archived version of the defaced website.
1999
NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the atmosphere of Mars. The loss of communication will later be attributed to a computer bug.
Pradip K. Fatehpuria, an ex-Atari programmer, leaves his position at VM Labs, Inc. to join Microsoft’s Web TV project.
2001
Nintendo releases the fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
2002
In the US, President George W. Bush signs a piece of legislation called “The Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002″ (H.R. 3833) into law (public law 107-317) to create a kid-safe “dot-kids” domain (kids.us), which would be implemented in 2003.
XCOR Aerospace makes the first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California. XCOR Aerospace is a private rocket engine and spaceflight development company based out of the Mojave Spaceport. It was formed by former members of the Rotary Rocket rocket engine development team in September, 1999. Rocket mail has been attempted by various organizations in many different countries, with varying levels of success. It has never been seen as being a viable option for delivering mail, due to the cost of the schemes and numerous failures.
2003
Microsoft Game Studios releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Halo: Combat Evolved for the Mac OS X in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
2004
After a brief demonstration phase in November, the English beta version of Wikinews is launched. Wikinews is meant to be a free news source that allows anyone to report news stories. Visit the official Wikinews website.
The British Office of Fair Trading refers Apple’s iTunes Music Store to the European Commission for allegedly violating European Union free-trade legislation with the practice of allowing EU consumers to purchase music only from the service set up for their nation. Apple Computer will protest that it’s restricted by the legal limitations of the rights granted to them by each music label and publisher. In later commentary, a journalist at PC World would speculate that “the Commission’s main target is not Apple but the music companies and music rights agencies, which work on a national basis and give Apple very little choice but to offer national stores”.
Sony Pictures Classics releases wuxia action film House of Flying Daggers, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi, and Andy Lau, to 15 US theaters in a limited screening. In it, a romantic warrior breaks a beautiful member of a rebel army out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem. Produced on a budget of US$12 million, it will gross US$397,472 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit the film’s official website. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hr 59 mins
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Kir’Shara” first airs. (No. 409) In it, Archer and T’Pol try to recover an artifact as Enterprise gets involved with a standoff between the Vulcan and Andorian fleets. Memory Alpha entry
2005
Adobe Systems, a developer of graphics software such as Photoshop, acquires Macromedia, a developer of graphic and web design software, for about US$3.4 billion in stock. Under the terms of the deal, Macromedia shareholders will receive 0.69 shares of Adobe, worth $41.86 for each Macromedia share, a twenty-five percent premium on the $33.45 value of Macromedia’s stock.
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